Lost
by Ragamuffin
Summary: Yamato writes a story for a fantasy contest, but when he, Taichi and Sora are sucked into the story with no recollection that they're not supposed to be there, can the other destined help before it's too late?
1. ::vanishing:: I

::lost::

~_And now, you must go on your quest, never stopping until you drink of the glasses of the galaxy, never stopping until your destiny is fulfilled._

And at that the boy picked up his sword and went deeper into the shadows on a journey he would never forget…

_ _

::lost::

::this fic contains::

::Sorato::

::slight fantasy::

::an AU in which Sora's present and any other Sorato from then on do not exist with the exception of Yamato saving her life::

::this is an entry for Kawaii Li'l Lia's contest::

::if you are deathly allergic to any of these ingredients, please hit the back button on your browser to get rid of any potentially hazardous side effects…if you are not mortally wounded by these products, please proceed with your reading::

__

Ishida Yamato stared at his homework in vain. His blue eyes scanned the half-written paper in disgust. How could he ever come up with a good enough story to impress Sora?

The boy, aged fifteen three weeks ago, wasn't apprehensive about speaking to his friend ever since she had become more than just pretty in his eyes. The illegal attraction had turned deeper by the day and he had found himself not only admiring her looks, which were always there, nor her personality, which he had loved all the same, but; everything about her. The faults he adored, the mistakes she made he embraced and her feelings he respected beyond belief. Soon the admiration turned to a flutter in his heart, and then into a deeper feeling of peace.

Was it love? He wasn't too sure. She had been acquainted with him for over five years now and he had enjoyed almost every minute spent with her and his other friends. They had all had wonderful times together, and it was only natural, others who knew thought, for him to fall for a friend.

After all, making friends is what the Ishida boy did best.

But, Sora, while being a musical person, was not interested in fame or popularity, being as he was both the most popular and probably the most famous boy in all of Japan, he thought that his chance was slim. There was only one thing that she liked more than playing sports, a good tale.

Magical tales of dragons and wizards, monsters and kings, damsels in distress and the princes who save them, full of mystery and intrigue. She was always thought of the grounded, down to earth person, no one would have guessed that she was interested in such genre.

But that is what he loved about her, predictable yet unpredictable. And that was what others also found likeable in her.

Yamato had been pondering his current situation with her as he walked home from school. Sora enjoyed his company he was sure, but did she enjoy it as much as he enjoyed hers? He had already shown affection for her, undying friendship and even proceeded to save her life during his Christmas Eve concert. Yet, he knew Sora would never feel the same way.

Then, the contest came. It was one that Sora and a few others would be judging, a fantasy contest. You were instructed to write a story, a fantasy story specifically, and submit it by the next week. The winner would receive a plaque and a spot in a book an author was writing. It was just the thing that Yamato had been looking for. With the contest, he could impress Sora enough so that she would think higher of him and perhaps even find out she liked him. He knew it was juvenile of him to think so of course; but if it worked…

Yamato had signed up on the spot and preceded to write down a flurry of ideas, all of which, he decided, were stupid. Then the hopelessness returned and he and his ego were disappointed in him. Ah, yes, his best friend often joked around with him about his immense ego. If being a rock star didn't inflate it, he didn't know what had. Perhaps it had been the attention he had been getting, or perhaps it was merely the fact that he was thought to be tough and not to be reckoned with. Whatever it was, the Ishida Ego joke had been circulating around the male populous of the school and mutating itself into several new jokes, and several new dumb blonde jokes, which he took to heart.

But, when he was depressed, his friends would know, and to prevent a second occurrence of disappearance, they would always find a way to cheer him up. Lately, the only person he could feel cheery around was Sora, and her grin was his only weakness. His smile, the award-winning smile as they had dubbed it, would shine through and when she'd laugh a little, he couldn't help but feel better. He loved it when he was the one bringing her smile about; it made him feel that warm sensation again. One of security, a feeling his family wouldn't offer; or at least his immediate family that is. His father had been working late again and getting drunk again. When he was littler, this would be a sign for him to leave for a while and come back in the morning or to hide away, locked in a room. But now that he was older and stronger, he could stand up to his father. Still, the bruises sometimes showed up and Yamato would use his second great talent of lying to get out of the stares of his classmates. 

His good friends always knew.

It had been a storm of thoughts in his head when she had come, jerking him out of his deep thoughts. The old lady soliciting for money that he had accidentally bumped into. Her kind eyes touched him in such a way that he dug sheepishly into his wallet and gave her the only money he had, a 20-dollar bill, American tender. American money went a long way in Japan and he told the kind woman to spend it on only what she needed, and nothing else. She begged him to let her thank him in the only way she knew how, and she beckoned him to come to her home.

Giving the grandmother his best smile, the same smile that had won over so many hearts, he followed her to an alley full of rubbish and filth. A pain in his heart came around when he noticed a pile of blankets in a corner, which he knew was her home. She insisted on giving him a drink of water from a bottle, but he politely refused, partly because he knew she needed it before and partly because he was afraid of what was growing in it. Nodding, she began to tell him a story. Minutes flew as her tongue weaved a web of interest around Yamato until he was helplessly caught inside of her tale. It was wonderful, detailed and believable, probably the best thing he had ever heard. Then he realized something.

It was a magical tale with dragons and wizards, monsters and kings, damsels in distress and the princes who saved them, full of mystery and intrigue.

A Sora story.

Yamato paid attention to every detail she had to offer, every twist and turn of the plot, every name and happening of the characters, everything he tried to store in his memory bank. When she had finished, he bid her farewell and a thousand thank-yous along with it and rushed home to his room and began to jot down everything he remembered. He planned to visit her the next day for the next part originally, but now it was all ruined. 

Halfway through the memory walk, he began to add in his own elements to the story, enlivening it to his standards, adding more adventures and more peril for the main character. Eventually, the story was not hers, but his and all was different. Going back to read through his rough draft, he realized that it was ruined.

Yagami Taichi had read it for Yamato and insisted that it was the best story he had read or heard so far. When he was questioned on the inspiration for such a well-written story, Yamato lied that it was simply by staring at a picture he had seen in a book; to which Taichi had replied, "Must've been some picture!"

Yes, a picture of dragons and wizards, monsters and kings, damsels in distress…

And now since he had officially signed for the contest, this was his writing homework for the night. When trigonometry, literature, biology and history had all been put aside, he was left to the story, and Sora.

Sora didn't like popular people. She had always thought that popularity ran the whole world and that it didn't matter anymore if the guy was a good person or not, but he thought he could have anything he wanted as long as people seemingly like him. Her opinions, which she shamelessly voiced, had stung Yamato, who was the most popular boy in the school. He had debated for days whether it was he who she had implied was a bad person. The worry and stress however, was dismissed when Taichi, or simply Tai to many, told him that it was Xarl Xui she was speaking about, her ex-boyfriend who had cheated on her with two others. Yamato would never have betrayed Sora; and at the rate he was going, he never would. She'd never go out with him.

But Yamato longed to be with her again, if not as lovers, then as friends. Even if she did eventually marry her best friend, Taichi, he would still have an unsuppressed affection for the red head. Her laugh like flowing water, her eyes like fiery mists, her caring nature. Why couldn't it have been him who was her childhood friend? Why Taichi? It wasn't fair.

'Life's not fair,' he told himself and he set aside his story and looked down at his guitar. In the opaque polished body he could see his reflection. Semi-long blonde hair, deep blue eyes, sad expression; he had an almost feminine quality to him. It had been his features that had gotten him so far in the music business. Sure, he knew some liked him for his music, but most of his fans were girls and they only liked his looks, not the person inside. Every girl at his school stared at him, he tried to be nice, but it was almost too much with everyone following him around. The guys at his school were either his friends, or his enemies. He didn't know why they were jealous of him; he would've traded his life for theirs in a snap. Being a rock star was stressing and demanding; you even had to be a good athlete. Part of his workout each day was running…away from fans.

One fan in particular hounded him like an animal. Motomiya Jun. She was constantly everywhere he went, forcing him to hang out with him, even blackmailing him on a date. The date he had survived when Taichi showed up and crashed it. The event was embarrassing; with the Yagami shoving fries up his nose and snorting the American ABC song while hula-hooping, but it had worked. Later, he found out that all of his friends had been watching what they deemed, 'Operation SAVE' which stood for Save mAtt Very Easily. The look of Jun's face he would never forget.

But Jun hadn't been bugging him lately and the fan attacks were getting fewer and fewer. Yamato began to suspect that Taichi and Koushirou had something to do with it, but he couldn't be sure. Usually, Izumi Koushirou, known as Izzy to many, was the brains of their operations and Taichi and himself would carry them out. Sora was usually their spy on the inside, and when their good friend Tachikawa Mimi visited from America, she was the 'babe' who lured in the unsuspecting victims. Their reliable pal, Kido Jyou, kept their plans a secret and the two littlest members Yagami Hikari, Taichi's little sister, and Takaishi Takeru, the younger brother of Yamato, would weasel in and out of the scam with their friends Motomiya Daisuke, Inoue Miyako and Hida Iori. Their newest friend Ichijouji Ken often was the observer of many a prank and he kept a watchful eye on how secretive they were being.

He picked up the red and white bass and began plucking out tunes like a storyteller wove a web of mystery and intrigue. Fantastic tales of faraway lands…

It seemed that every thought drove back to Sora. Her look, her smile…why was he so obsessed with his best friend's girl? She was his, he hers, but it didn't seem fair to Yamato.

The soft sweet tune became a troubled one, loud and angry. His fingers moved like lightening over the strings. In frustration he let loose a horribly dissonant chord and nearly threw the bass down. Sighing he collapsed back onto his bed clutching his story and stared up at the ceiling of his room.

"How come, God?" he asked, "Why can't she just be mine?" His azure eyes filled with tears as he whispered, "For once, I know what I want." He turned onto his stomach and cried.

~*~

When the youth had finally fallen asleep, a cool wind blew through his room. It swirled gently around his body, and then moved to the picture of his family standing up on the dresser. The wind was searching for something, something it would find only seconds later.

A blue glittering substance soon appeared in the wind, making it visible to the naked eye of a cat. Rusty, the neighbor's tabby, watched as the wind whirled around the bed and found five pages with what looked like to the cat, the human's horrible penmanship. With the wind's magic, the words on the page glowed a metallic blue, and mist began to rise from each letter. ::think _Mulan_:: The sparkling cerulean mist floated over to our sleeping Digidestined and descended down upon him covering him with a dense coldness. Rusty let out a shriek to warn his favorite boy, his favorite human at that, but it was to no avail. As the fog grew thicker, the boy grew fainter and as it shimmered for a last time, he disappeared.

All that was left on the Ishida's green-sheeted bed was a crumpled up page of a half-written story, one of dragons and wizards, monsters and kings, damsels in distress and the princes who save them, full of mystery and intrigue…

::fin::

::dragonfire::


	2. ::vanishing:: II

~The girl, seeing her companion advance into the darkness clutched her fist to her breast and bit her lower lip

_~The girl, seeing her companion advance into the darkness clutched her fist to her breast and bit her lower lip. The entity told her to follow the young lad and offer him a shoulder to cry on; a friend forever at his side._

_She looked at his retreating silhouette and rushed to catch up…_

_ _

::I was so psyched when I saw I had GOOD reviews!!! This is my first fic and I just couldn't believe people liked it! ^_^:: 

::Well, anyway, to the fic!::

Takenouchi Sora sighed to her flowers, exhausted at the events of the day. She gently placed a yellow rose alongside a pink chrysanthemum. How had she gotten into this mess?

Only a week ago she had signed up to be a judge for a writing contest. Fantasy was her favorite genre and she had hoped she would find a good story, perhaps one or two, out of the entries submitted. So far, not even one up to half her standards had been turned in. All were short, pointless writings with a predictable plot and shallow characters. There's a pretty girl, she finds herself in trouble, a handsome prince comes to save her and they ride off into the sunset together. How boring. Her friends could make better stories than that. Secretly, she was hoping a certain friend would enter the contest. 

A long time friend, Ishida Yamato, could tell wonderfully long and detailed stories. Beautifully written, they were, and with deep realistic characters whose actions were believable and human. Monsters that seemed about as authentic as they could get; and why wouldn't they be? After all, the twelve of them had certainly been around enough monsters themselves to have a faint idea of a truly terrifying or fantastic wonder.

However, he always held his stories in horrible ratings. She constantly had to tell him that they were wonderful, beautiful, and incredibly deep. It was beyond her understanding as to the fact that he said each new story was the worst anyone had ever heard. Sora wished that a "horrible piece of crap" would be delivered to her pile of _real_ crap.

But her hoping had obviously been in vain. Even though he had started on a story a few months back, she was sure he would never submit it and she would be forced to read through boring, predictable stories until she collapsed.

The flowers were comforting. Sweet aromas of jasmine, rose, lily and even the sharp smell of baby's breath always lingered in her mother's haven. She had recently taken her own favorite arrangement to heart; one that was called 'Encouragement' which people bought for loved ones who were suffering.

Taichi, for a joke, had bought one for her.

That boy always knew what Sora was feeling, especially when it was frustration. Having been friends for twelve years assisted in the situation and if he couldn't read her vibes, he could read her face. It had helped when he was there for her three years ago when she had been in serious trouble, but even more so when both of her good male friends were working side by side to make her smile.

The brunette would make a fool of himself; the sapphire-eyed blonde would talk. Somewhere in between the faces and the words, her mood would lighten and she'd feel much better. Then they would start having fun. She had to admit, that recently her much sought-after friend was leaning on her for support more than reversed. If the blonde was breaking down, Sora would do what she did best, listen.

It had always been easy for Sora to listen, when she wanted to. Her selective hearing talents were well developed and she could tune out entire conversations effortlessly. However, her selective reading habits were not, and she was forced to read the same stories over and over again. Earlier that day she had talked to her best friend, Mimi, about the stories and had gotten an unusual response.

"Hasn't it been too quiet recently? No problems in any sector of the digital world, no bothersome interferences from parents or anything else edgewise, I've even passed my trigonometry class this semester with flying colors. Something odd is going down behind our backs."

Her words had sincerely chilled Sora to her bone and a frightened air took over the room. Nothing had been happening at all and Sora had to admit that it was unusual for Mimi to receive an "A" as a final grade in any mathematical subject. "Do you have any idea what may be 'going down'?"

"No, nothing of the slightest! Perhaps it's something to do with our newly returned crests, why, my best friend told me that I've been using remarkably good grammar and phenomenally enormous words in my sentences. If I hadn't burst out laughing I wouldn't have had the slightest inkling of what she meant by the statement. I mean, is it really in my nature to use the full extent of my vocabulary?"

Silence followed the Tachikawa's words as Sora absorbed the realization that Mimi had actually been talking on nearly a Koushirou-like level. Not even Sora had used that many "Izumi words" as Tai had deemed them in one saying in such a short amount of time.

"Daijoubu ka?"

"Mmhm, but I seem to understand your friend's words better than you at the moment."

"Well," the girl said in a sly voice, "by any chance have you hooked up with anyone?"

"I've decided to take it slow so as to get over my shock of that baka Xui. Imagine, two others! I can't seem to comprehend how neither one of the other girls found out."

"Ah, but remember, it was Yama-kun who had dropped by that Uri's house and it was Taichi who had found Xui with her the next day."

"I don't know what I'd do without Yama," Sora had said.

A shocked tone arose from the American's voice. "What about Taichi-kun? Wasn't he the one who told you in the first place? Are you becoming fond of Yamato?"

"Of course not," she replied quickly, "what makes you say that?"

"Sora, have you been staring into his eyes for too long? I believe you've caught Ishida-itis. Sooner or later it would happen, given the fact that he had not only saved your life, but also started an international-band phenomenon. You've become one of his groupies!"

"No I haven't! I'm only his friend!"

"Aren't we all?" the Tachikawa mused distantly.

"I have to go Mimi, I'll call you-"

"No, my daddy can afford the long, long distance bill, you can't. E-mail me instead. O-daijini!"

"Ja ne." The girls had both hung up and returned to their separate duties. Mimi had unknowingly left Sora with a weird sense of absence as if something had not been quite right with that conversation. It had all felt as if she was chatting with a recording. The rest of the afternoon had followed suit.

Throughout dinner, work and homework (the reluctant reading) the detached feeling had stayed, eating away at the Takenouchi like a caterpillar to a leaf. She was just about to snap, when her best friend had tallied up the total calls to two.

"Moshi-moshi?" she had asked with a nervous tone, "Takenouchi desu, sorewa Sora."

"Sora! Daijoubu ka?"

"Mm…"

"Tell me."

"Oh, only something Mimi said, Taichi-kun. Don't worry yourself with it."

"What was it?"

"Well, have you noticed that nothing has happened? No attacks from the digiworld that I know of."

"Kari tells me that they've had no trouble with Archnemon or Mummymon lately, and, has your mom been especially nice?"

"Yeah," Sora said brushing a stray strand of hair from her face away, "see what I mean? It's frightening. What if they're planning a big battle now, what if…what if we'll need everyone for what's coming? All of the digidestined from everywhere around the world! I mean, there had to be digidestined everywhere, if they're in America, then they must be in Africa and China and Italy and-"

"Calm down Sora-san! It's probably only that they're trying to find Black-Wargreymon themselves, and have had no time for our friends. Now that we've protected the digiworld, and that menace is gone, they just don't know it. I'm sure TK, Ken and Davis and the others wouldn't tell."

Sora frowned. "Miyako tells me that they already know about his departure; but will another digimon come out of nowhere to attack us again like they did at Yama's concert? Nothing's happened since then, and it's been three weeks! What could they have been planning?"

"Don't think about it, our younger counterparts have it under control. And if they don't, we can always lend another helping hand like before. In fact, Agumon's even come over again; has Miyako or Daisuke brought you Piyo again?"

"No, but-"

"Sora!"

"Aii…you're right, I worry too much."

"We're going to have to forcibly remove you from that house aren't we Sora-san? Yama, Koushirou, Mimi and I'll have to drag you out kicking and screaming so you can have some fun! Tomorrow, we're going to come over, Jyou will bring Mimi, and you are going to see the sunlight for the first time in, how long?"

"Tai!" Sora sighed. "It's okay, nothing to worry about! Really!"

"Good, but tomorrow, it is the weekend and we're going to hunt you down and you're going to have some fun at the beach!"

"I went to the beach with you, Jyou and Yama last week!"

"Oh, so you did. Wasn't Yamato being a party pooper?"

"He was just stressed, that's all. Jun was bothering him." Sora heard a devious laugh on the other line. "What is that for? What did you do to her? What did you do to _Yama_?"

"Well, it's more like what I did to Ishida's rep."

"Oh. No. Tai, what'd you do?"

"I kinda told her that Yamato was, wait a sec." Sora shook her head and then set the phone down. Whenever Tai told her to wait, she'd be there for twenty minutes. She got up to get a drink from the fridge and the last horrible story she had to read before Tai's voice came from the receiver. It was faint when she heard it, but when she put it up to her ear it was like being next to a speaker at one of Yamato's concerts.

"**SORA!!!**"

"Ouch, Taichi! How about not making me deaf in one ear?" 

In the background she heard Kari yell, "TAI! Would you KNOCK IT OFF! Stand still and shut up!"

"Anyway, I have to go, Kari needs me-"

"Wait, Tai you never told-" but she was cut off by the dial tone. Laughing to herself, Sora wondered what Kari was going to do to him. His little sister had been forced to take a sewing class at her school when their original lesson plan was interrupted after their teacher had gotten married and ran away. They had never thought that Mr. Fujiyama was that kind of man, but apparently, he was. Secretly, everyone was glad he was gone; every time the older digidestined tried to go to the digiworld by themselves without the younger group, he had hounded them and eventually they had to spend some time with him before they could even think of losing him. 

But when they finally got there, it was great. Davis' group never knew what fun they had without them, visiting all of their old friends and even destroying an extra control spire or two. Picnics were always more fun in a world where they could spend hours without being disturbed; Yamato was always the one to point that out, Jun had been being a little too clingy. That was the beach she had mentioned, not the scary one that Kari reported seeing, the bigger beach, the one where the water was always warm and the sand was soft. The week before, they had visited the mountains after the snow had melted before they were ready. Everyone made snowmen and had they had had a great big snowball fight. Each time she came, Mimi said she was sleeping over at someone's house and during the day she _would_ sleep, in class, at home, on the bus. But, in the night when she left with her duffle bag and her backpack, she would go to the nearest public computer-most often in the library or in a computer store-and open the digital gate Izzy had left her with a special code Gennai had given the original digidestined. 

Ah, but lately, she had sort of disappeared along with the evil digimon. She hadn't been able to come to the beach last week, so Sora had been the only girl, which was quite unnerving. Her call had been the first news in at least two weeks. This was very unusual for Mimi; she was always in touch with them. 

Yet, the whole time since the concert had been unusual Everyone had been having so much fun, that they never stopped to worry about what was missing; the bad. The good was certainly there, but what happened to the bad? You can't have a light without a shadow, as Gennai had said once.

"Aii, Sora," she told herself as she hung the cordless phone up, "but you worry enough to take care of everyone else's worries. Just as soon as you finish the story you can worry some more."

Sighing, she set out to read he first part of the ten-page story. She set her soda down and read on past the first sentence, which started with, 'Once upon a time,' like the others and continued with half closed eyes. By the time that she had gotten to the third page, Sora was half-asleep and by the fifth page, she was. Her delicate fingers rested on the page, slightly curved as she dreamed of another story, filled with magic and beasts, just the kind she liked; a story with a plot and interest. She was the princess and Taichi, her best friend, a servant who helped her out on her escapades around the big castle. Everyone she knew was in the dream; Yamato was her minstrel, Mimi her maid (though she did not treat her like one), Jyou her doctor, Koushirou, the advisor and lastly Daisuke was the jester. Miyako, TK, Kari, Iori and Ken were all friends of the royal family. 

The dream was silly; full of unexpected twists and turns, but still, ridiculous in its nature. After all, who would think of them sliding a mountain of ice cream or climbing a huge pillar of cookies, and Daisuke's digimon eating the whole thing, just as they had gotten to the top? 

When Sora awoke just a bit later from an explosion in the street, she vowed to never drink soda before she slept (who would want to have another dream like _that_ again?), and never to give little Shoji left over firecrackers anymore. She turned back to the story on her chest for a few minutes, but her mind had already gotten the hunger for more sleep and the story was so boring and she was so very tired…

'Maybe just a little sleep won't hurt. Shoji's still got three crackers left, anyway.'

~*~

Ms. Takenouchi came home six hours later, at midnight, and set a blanket over her sleeping daughter. Had she stayed a bit longer, she would have seen exactly what Rusty the cat had seen. Scared silly, the cat had taken off from Yamato's lair and ran top speed to his nearest sanctuary, too afraid to have the sense to just go back to its home one floor above his.

Rusty stopped underneath a large building and panted a little bit before feeling a cool wind circle around his body. Alert and fully re-energized, the cat bounded through the open door and up the steps following the blue, sparkling wind once again to try to find its next victim before it did. Meowing like the world was going to end, it saw the familiar room that the mist floated up to and the tabby used its agility to jump from porch to porch to get to the open window as fast as it could. Rusty finally got to the open glass door and squeezed through the crack, just in time to see the wind envelop a pretty, red-haired girl asleep on a couch. Half of it swirled around her and then as she started disappearing, the other half went around the room and stopped before a picture, just as it had done before. 

In the picture was the girl, her arm around the young blonde and the other around another boy with extremely large hair. Rusty knew that boy from his yellow mother, Miko; he was their master. The boy had kept Rusty once the rest of her kittens had been given away. The wind seemed to recognize the boy like Rusty and once it had fully gotten rid of the girl, it collected itself back together and headed out the window.

The cat knew it had to get to the boy before the wind could; he knew where the apartment was, and hoped he could reach it, his master, and Miko before the wind could. Maybe he was too late to wake the girl, but, the boy called Taichi by his masters, maybe he could save him…

::fin::

::i forgot a disclaimer so…here goes::

::i'm turning Japanese-ah, yes i'm turning Japanese-i don't own digi::

::i'm turning Japanese-ah, yes i'm turning Japanese-so please don't sue me!::

::dragonfire::


	3. ::vanishing:: III

~The friend of the two gazed on at their figures as they walked off into the unknown

~_The friend of the two gazed on at their figures as they walked off into the unknown. He picked up his tired feet and started after them._

_No, boy, I have something special for you, it said and immediately the young lad felt an immense pain searing through his body…_

Yagami Taichi groaned and thought of what he'd be doing if that stupid Fujiyama hadn't run off with that girlfriend of his. He fidgeted like he was playing some soccer game with his friends. How had he consented to become a mannequin?

"Oh give it up Taichi; stay like this until I get a pin or two to hold up your skirt," Hikari said with an evil look in her eye. "Until then, hold it up."

"OKAAAAAA-SAAAN!" Taichi yelled, "Make her stop!"

"Taichi! You're a big boy now, you can stand there for a few more minutes."

Another groan escaped his lips as he dropped his right arm back down to his side. He had always seen movies where the brother had to stand up on a stool for hours while their sister or mother or some female relative would pin and sew and prod until they couldn't take it anymore. Taichi would laugh at the sight, but never thought that he would be in this position himself. It was awkward and uncomfortable, plus he was wearing a skirt…a pink skirt…a _frilly_ _pink_ _skirt_.

He shuddered at the thought. Pink, his least favorite color; was Hikari's most favorite. They were exact opposites Hikari and he; she hated his favorite color (a deep earthy sienna), she thought Daisuke a good friend, he, a nuisance. Taichi loved soccer, she was sick of it, he liked hard rock, and Hikari loved pop. Her temper was slow; he could explode at any second, when she was mad it stayed, his anger was fleeting. Even with the differences, which could have gone on forever, they loved each other…and they loved getting each other angry. It was almost hard to believe that Yamato and Takeru, the only two siblings that were never mad at the other, teased and taunted each other as much as Taichi and Hikari did.

Sora was wrong; Fujiyama's disappearance was definitely fishy. How could the teacher had fallen in love when his looks were about as lacking as Jun's? Speaking of whom…

Remembering the fact that he never did tell Sora the white lie he told Jun to get her away from his best friend, made him grin. Taichi wished he had had Hikari's camera when he broke the 'news' to Jun. That look was priceless. Yamato would have killed to see it again, it was almost worse than the look that she had on her face when he had saved the rock star from their date.

Then again, Yamato would have killed him when he found out what he had told Jun. Unless of course it was true…

'Naaaah.'

"I'm back Taichi-chan!"

"Yeah, now could you hang up the phone for me?" he asked tossing her the black receiver. 

"Lazy-bones," she muttered as she put it back.

Taichi snorted. "You try moving around in this! It's frilly…pink…huge!"

"Just how I like it, now, you're going to stay like this for a while!"

"_Nani_?" 

"I have to go out with the other digidestined to the digiworld and while I'm gone you can't take this off! Okaa-san knows already and she won't let you weasel out of it! HA!**Iteki masu******onii-chan!"

"AII! Come back here Hikari or I'll-" but she was already out the door. His mother came in the room giggling. "Okaa-san, why is my imouto so mean to me? It's not fair!" he whined using a little baby's voice.

"Wakataimas," she said as she set down her cup of tea, "here, let me help you out of this fix. I did the very same thing to my onii-chan once, but he was a little more agreeable than you."

"Uncle Greg in America put up with this?"

"No, of course not, he complained and then, a little later, got me back ten times worse," she reminisced as the frills came off one by one.

"What did he do?"

"I'll save that for a later story. Why don't you call Sora-"

"Mataka?! She'd think I'm nuts."

"Then call Yamato!"

"I talked to him earlier today too."

"Jyou?"

"Studying for his exams."

"Try to visit Koushirou then."

"He's helping out Miyako-san and the others if I know him. Always trying to help out, or at least prove his intelligence."

"Mimi?!"

"Long-distance okaa-san. Otou-san would kill me when he saw the bill!"

"Aii, then get into your room out of my sight and do your homework you un-agreeable boy!" she said before giving him a little whack on the rear.

Taichi headed over to the room he shared with Hikari and plopped down on the lower bunk. Putting up with staring at the dirty boards for thirteen years wasn't too fun, but he knew she loved the top bunk and he was probably too heavy for it anyway. Besides, this gave him an excuse to put up little glow-in-the-dark stars all over the wooden beams, which had been fun to do and they still were enjoyable to look at. He'd rearrange them every month or so, putting on new putty each time they lost their stickiness. 

The stars glowed even without the absence of lights; that month he had made a Bakemon out of the plastic pieces, just to frighten Hikari the night he had done it. She had been sleeping there while he slept over with the team. While the scolding afterward was severe, even Hikari had to admit (after much prodding) that it was funny. Yamato and Sora cracked up at the thought that little, wise and mature Hikari had screamed bloody murder at the image of such a wimpy and weak digimon.

The thought made him remember Yamato's current mood, depressed. When _was_ the last time the blonde had laughed? Surely not even in the last two weeks. Even at the beach he had been moping about, and when Sora finally got him to come back to the group, he only smiled once, and that was because of a joke at Jyou's expense. 

It seemed to him that Sora had been the only one who could get through to him. Taichi had tried, of course, but nothing but the cheery fire-eyed girl would do. Naturally, they were all worried, himself and Sora the most, but, "If something worked, let it work," Taichi had said because everyone surely enjoyed at least the slightly happy, exuberant Yamato more than any other current version of him.

Groaning once again, Taichi realized that if only Sora could get through to Yamato, then not even Takeru could get through to him. They were going to have to think of something to do to get him out of this mood. Thinking about Yamato's depression was depressing in itself and he rolled out of bed onto the ground and crawled over to his soccer ball.

He threw it up into the air and then quick as a flash, got up to bounce it off of his forehead a few times. Unfortunately, he had miscalculated the throw and it hit the ceiling, making a large thump that gave him both a shout from the neighbors upstairs and some reprimanding from Mrs. Yagami. The soccer ball bounced off of the top of his head, which hurt, and fell perfectly into his outstretched hand.

"Go outside to play soccer! How many times do I have to tell you before you're twenty-one and living at college?"

"I dunno okaa-san, guess!"

"TAICHI!" she yelled, but he was already out the door and bounding down the steps to go outside before she could get to him. It was fun being a kid and Sora and Yamato must have just forgotten how to be one.

'They're both so depressing and serious; I'd rather be fooling around with Daisuke-kun and Iori-kun than listening to both of them. Speaking of which…'

The Yagami boy got out the digivice he always kept in his pocket and rushed over to the electronic store near his home. He made his way in, hiding his soccer ball up his shirt (which got a few suspicious looks from customers), and held it up to the last computer in the back.

"Digiport, open," he whispered as the familiar symbol came up on the screen. A large white flash came from the monitor and Taichi turned around just in time to smile at an American and wave before completely disappearing. 

The strange feeling of atoms being downloaded gave him the chills every single time he went, but, soon enough he was in the digiworld…in the air!

"AII!" Daisuke yelled as Taichi fell right on top of him. The other younger digidestined laughed at the two as Taichi helped Daisuke up onto his feet.

"Just decided to drop by!" he said, receiving a few groans from the kids.

"Onii-chan," Hikari said getting a little suspicious, "how did you get out of the skirt?"

"Oh that? I used Yamato-chan as my mannequin!" Takeru smiled.

"Jun-chan was mine," Daisuke said. 

"Okaa-san must like me more than you, she helped me out."

Miyako giggled, "Ken-san here was my mannequin!"

"Baka," Ken hissed embarrassed. When people were especially annoyed with Miyako, they called her by her 'nickname', which she hated more than anything. "I thought you'd keep it a secret!"

"You should never trust Miyako, Ken," Iori commented with a rare laugh, "she couldn't keep a secret if you paid her!"

"Iori!"

"Miyako!"

"_Iori_!"

"_Miyako_!"

"_IORI_!!"

"_MIYA_-"

"All right you two," Takeru said rubbing his temples. He looked over to Taichi who shrugged while he juggled the ball between his two feet for a few seconds before heading it to Daisuke, who juggled it like a hackysack as well and then kicked it to Ken. Ken bounced it off of his chest before kicking it back to Taichi with the back of his foot. The ball went between the three before Hikari jumped in front of Daisuke and kicked the ball over to Miyako who bounced it off of her helmet back to Ken. Laughing, the older boy kicked it over to Iori who caught it and dropkicked it over to Daisuke. The ball went in a wild direction towards Takeru, who, almost out of instinct, caught the flying sphere with a SMACK!

"I think we've got ourselves a game!" Taichi said. "I've got Miyako-san and Takeru-kun. Ken-san, take Hikari-chan and Daisuke-kun. Iori-kun, why don't you be the substitute. Here's how we'll play: Every five minutes, we all rotate our positions, so everyone will get to play. I'll be the first to rotate out."

"That's too complicated," Takeru said. "Why don't we just get Koushirou-senpai to come and play? He's nearby with Tentomon; they're not doing anything important."

"Okay, I'll get him!" Daisuke said heading the leather orb over to Taichi, who started the juggling again. Ten minutes later, Taichi took his long-time friend on the 'Greymon' team and Ken put little Iori in the goal-box to play for the 'Kaiser's'. Taichi thought it was great that Ken had gotten so past his time as the Digimon Emperor that he could joke about it and even mock his former position. 

"Let's GO!" he yelled as he passed the ball to Miyako, who kicked it to Koushirou. Ken stole the ball from him and gave it a hard kick straight at Takeru, who caught it and threw it straight at Taichi. The game was long and heated and ended with a score of one to one, a successful tie. 

Sweaty and exhausted Taichi shook hands with Ken. "Great game Ichijouji-san."

"You know, a month ago, I never would have done this. I probably would be trying to kill you."

"Yeah, and a month ago I wouldn't have been able to come here with you guys. I probably'd be stuck with mountains of…shimatta!"

"Taichi!"

"AII! I have tons of homework due tomorrow! Bye!" Taichi said grabbing the soccer ball from Daisuke and running up to the tree where the Digiport he had opened was.

"WAIT! Taichi, use the other Digiport, on the ground!" Hikari yelled after her brother. 

He scrambled down the tree again and dove headlong into the TV. Taichi crashed headfirst into Koushirou's rolling chair in his room and fell on the ground.

"Ouch," he muttered and got up rubbing his head. Turning back to the computer screen, he didn't have time to duck when his soccer ball was thrown into his face. Taichi let out a yell, but then covered his mouth and scrambled underneath Koushirou's bed as he heard footsteps.

"Koushirou?" Taichi heard the Izumi's mother call. "Koushirou? Koushirou? I must be hearing things… Where did this come from?" she thought aloud as she walked out with the Yagami's favorite ball. "It must be one of his friends', I'll just give it to him when he comes home."

'No!' the Yagami boy thought as he punched the hard wooden floor. 

After a few minutes had passed, he came out of his hiding place and snuck out the door without Mrs. Izumi seeing him. As nice as she was, she was certainly quite hard of hearing, or blind, or just wrapped up in her work. Sora could get like that, so involved in whatever she was doing to suddenly become blind to the world around her. It didn't happen often, just when she was reading. 

Magic, yes, that would be his best friend's demise. Someday she would be reading a book and all hell will be breaking loose and all she'll be able to do is sit there in her favorite big chair at her house and read about some dragon terrorizing some town in an author's mind. Or, she'll be that author writing about the dragon. He could just imagine that happening.

"Leave me alone! I'm writing a new novel! I don't care what's going on! Shh!" 

He smiled. That could definitely happen. If there was a world where she could find all of that magical stuff, where she could meet a unicorn or even a Chimera, where she could be a princess or a sorceress, where the trees talked (not including that ugly Cherrymon that Yamato had talked about) and she could confide in a singing bird to spread a message throughout a kingdom, she'd be there in a flash. And of course, Taichi and Yamato would be right there at her side.

But real magic? Spells and such; were all baloney. Taichi knew that better than anyone. His okaa-san had always told him that magic was the day that he and Hikari were born and Ms. Takenouchi always said that her first kiss was magical. Mr. Ishida told him once that the first time he had gotten his job done without any mistakes and he had done great in front of the camera, it was magic. Agumon told him that the first time he saw Taichi, it was magic. But none of that was the kind of magic that Sora was interested in.

"Okaa-san! I'm home again!"

"Is Hikari with you?"

"No, I saw her though, she's still playing with the others."

"It's getting late, if she's not home in ten minutes-"

"Okaa-san!" his little imouto called, "I'm home!"

She put another plate on their little table and Taichi saw a saucer laid out for Miko. "Good you two, dinner's ready."

"Stir-fry again okaa-san," their otou-san whined as he kissed her cheek, "you're losing your touch!"

"Hush up, you! Set a good example for the kids."

He bounded over to the table like a kid and sat down at his place, picking up his chopsticks and banging them together. "Gimmie food!"

"I thought okaa-san said a good example, otou-san!" Hikari laughed as she sat down at the table across from Taichi. "You're behaving like Taichi!" He gave a little expression of being shocked and then leaned back to watch the anticipated conversation between his two children.

"That just goes to show you where I get it from!" Taichi smiled. "It's not me, it's genetics. I want you to remember that the next time that you find a little wasabi in your lunch disguised as sushi!"

"How do you suppose to do that?"

"I'll ask our boy of culinary delights, Yamato-san, to make me a special batch of wasabi."

"He'd never-"

"If I pay him he will!"

"Taichi! Hikari! Now you two be quiet and eat your dinner!"

The young male of the family ate his dinner as fast as he could, gave a large and rude burp on purpose, got scolded, and then rushed to his room to start on his second-year trigonometry homework. Math hadn't always been easy for him, but 'trig' as Mimi referred to it, was about the easiest arithmetic he had ever done, and he understood it about as well as Koushirou did. He could hold this over Yamato, who was struggling, and Sora who still couldn't quite remember the difference between cosine and sine, even though this was the second year they had taken the subject. They weren't held back, as his okaa-san had thought when she discovered he was taking it again, but only in their second year of trigonometry, so later they didn't have to take it and they could move onto the 'exciting world of calculus'.

Finishing in less than ten minutes, he moved onto his bed, and into his foreign language homework. English was a hard language, having so many different rules for everything and then so many exceptions to the rules that it made his head spin. Mimi was lucky that she could learn so fast; Taichi wouldn't be able to survive in America for long. Plus the language was so boring to listen to. At least Japanese was pleasing to the ears, not hard and shrill. Even Mimi, who had tried to find at least one word that was as beautiful as her native language, had to admit that it was mind-numbing and harsh.

'Fix what's wrong in these sentences…_I have much expectations for the group_…boring…_I _have_ many expectations for the group_…' Taichi thought as he yawned. He was tired from all of that soccer playing and the English wasn't helping his situation. 'It's only seven, maybe I'll take a nap and then wake up later to do my homework…yeah, that's what I'll do…'

It had been a long tendency of Sora, Yamato and his to fall asleep while doing boring homework. Their parents had complained about it the one time all of their families had gotten together for a big picnic in the real world. That was probably one of the best days of his life, that picnic. He fell asleep remembering all of the fun he had there and completely forgetting about setting his alarm for eight thirty…

~*~

Rusty once again found himself running top-speed to the cat door at his home. The time before had been for a very different reason, but since Miko was his mother, he wasn't banned from exiting and leaving at all hours, nor was the bottom floor's main door completely shut. The humans never spotted the half-chewed door (courtesy of a friendly bulldog) near the ground on the far side of the building; this included any potential robbers. It was amazing how humans couldn't see how intelligent animals really were (creating their own means of getting in and out of a building!), having their own speech and culture. Animals could communicate, a thing that Rusty did as soon as he bounded through the door.

Once again, the wind had somehow beaten him to his home, but this time, it hadn't beaten him to Taichi. Rusty bounded onto the boy's chest, waking him up from a dream with a yell. He saw the boy bring his hand to mouth and freeze for a few moments, probably waiting for the girl to wake up, a thing she never did. Sighing, he looked down at the cat at his feet; he probably thought it was Miko.

The boy examined the tabby for a few seconds before realizing that the cat he was going to kick wasn't technically his. Then, the blue mist chose that time to come into the room and curl around Rusty. It was incredibly cold but he simply walked out of it, meowing to the boy to go. Searching the room, the wind surrounded its azure glitter around the girl in the top bunk, a mistake. But it was not the biggest mistake made; the teenager's eyes filled with fear for his littermate and Rusty knew that when he had put his hand in the mist to wave it away that all of his running had been for nothing. 

Quickly, the wind circled around him, smothering the boy in its magical sparkling and just like the others, he disappeared. Three children gone in one night, and what would their parents do? What could the cat do about it? 

Animals were smarter than humans thought, and they were able to communicate with animals that weren't entirely normal by human standards. Rusty carefully, silently, made his way over to the sweater in the corner of the room. He nudged the rather fat, white cat with his face and when she awoke demanding an explanation, he began telling her of the one thing she could do to save this whole mess... 

::fin::

__________________________________________________

::**Japanese Terms You Might Not Know**::

::**Iteki masu**=I'm off/I'm leaving::

::**Okaa-san/chan**=Mother::

::**Wakataimas**=I know::

::**Mataka**=Not again::

::**Otou-san/chan**=Father::

::**Shimatta**=a Japanese cuss word ^_^()::

__________________________________________________

::dragonfire::


	4. ::discovering::

~It couldn't be possible, the beings thought, and they searched for an answer. No one heard the third boy's cries, no one was watching for the danger that slowly crept up behind the pair of heroes walking into the forest.   
No one except one... 

__________________________________________________   
::I would just like to shamelessly plug thank the people who've reviewed my story so far: [Kawaii Li'l Lia][1], [chickcasso][2], [Tekno Danish][3], [Sana Jisushi][4], [Doc][5], [Enchantress][6], [Silver Eagle][7], [Katz][8], [Sailor MysticMoon][9], [ancarg012589][10], [Climbing Rose][11], Me-Me, [Catgirl_Jasp][12], [~Cute Lil Sora~][13], [Jerry Springer][14] (who was kind enough to leave me a very nice review), [Callist426][15], and to [SSJ2 Mimi N Gohan][16]. Without your feedback, I probably would never have continued (well, maybe I would have, but I would have felt stupid about it)::   
::Arigatou! ^_^::   
::**To Sailor MysticMoon**-I will put up a miniature dictionary at the end of each chapter, starting on the third one! Unsure about a certain word you see/saw (see saw!)? Scroll to the bottom of the chapter (because I'm too darn lazy to do the whole 'navigation-within-a-document' thing)! ^_~::   
::Yes, yes I know that Tailmon and Chibimon don't really talk that way, it's just that I'm being deprived of my Japanese eppys, and 'Gatomon' and 'DemiVeemon' inspired me. Forgive me! ^_^()::   
::Oh, and to those who care-FF.net wouldn't let me login until now. I was logged in when I reviewed, but I couldn't log in login! 0_o Weirdness. And when I did login to post my second fic, it wouldn't let me access this one! *screams in frustration*::   
::This next chapter will be rather long and rather pointless, I bet. I just wanted to set everybody up for chapter five, where we will finally get to the plot! If you want, you could just ignore this chapter. It sucks too.::

  
Aii, there's nothing to eat in this hell hole!   


::Mimi-san? How the heck did you get into my fic?::

  
You haven't earned your author's license yet; I'm here to monitor you.   


::*pulls out a few anti-fic bombs* Author's war anybody? Anybody?::

  
Forget about it. D.M.P. hasn't updated that [ story][17] since January.   


::Since when did you follow fanfiction?::

  
Since I became one of your muses, that's when.   


::*big dramatic zoom out camera sequence* NOOOOO!! It cannot be!::

  
Get over it! *bites into a chocolate-covered rice ball* Mmm, I haven't had one of these since that picnic! But...it needs more sweet stuff...   


::*sweatdrops* This is embarrassing. Just read...*sees what Mimi's doing* Iie, Mimi-san! Not the patented 'Hyper Author's sugar'! No! Stop!:: _________________________________________________   
  
  


Ichijouji Ken gasped in fright at the nightmare. They had all been perfectly happy yesterday. How could this have happened?   
  


Then the blue-haired boy remembered that it was only a dream. Pale hands came up to rub his fully awake face and to wipe away the cold sweat that glistened on his forehead. His warm covers were thrown aside as he got up to get a drink of water.   


"Ken-chan?" came a welcome voice, "Ken-chan it's just 1:36 in the morning. Why are you up?"   


"Oh, I'm sorry, Wormmon, if I woke you," he said getting down a green and white plastic cup, "but if you must know, I had a nightmare." The Bearer of Kindness opened up the cool fridge next to the cupboard and carefully got out the chilled water, so he wouldn't make as much noise as from the sink.   


"Another one Ken-chan? Was it about Osamu again, or someone else?"   


He took a sip from the ice-cold beverage before answering his digimon partner. "Someone else. I realized with the help from my friends that Osamu-chan wouldn't want me to be tortured like this; he would want me to move on with my life and to stop mourning for him."   


"Yes, Osamu would like that." Wormmon tugged on Ken's pajama leg and the boy bent down to allow his friend to climb on. Freezing, the green insect whispered, "Ken-chan, I think I hear something."   


"Nani?"   


"I hear something...like a beeping noise..."   


The Ichijouji boy set down the water-filled crystal and cautiously tiptoed across his beige-colored carpet. The moon was full, allowing enough pale light to shine through the closed curtains so Ken could see; yet enough shadows still remained to make him suspicious. Concentrating hard, he could make out a beeping noise as well; Wormmon's hearing was exceptionally good, despite his appearance as just a caterpillar. His partner scurried quickly behind him, ready to kick some invading digimon's backside if it at all threatened Ken.   


Ken seemed to be the star attraction for several evil digimon lately. The new group hadn't bothered to worry the original digidestined about the small attacks in the digital world, but each time, the attacker refused to fight anyone but Ken. Wormmon had been worried about the Ichijouji's safety recently and with the date of Osamu's tragic car accident growing nearer and nearer, the little caterpillar was also worried about his emotional stability.   


"If anyone's or anything's in there," Ken whispered with a mask of ferocity in his voice, "I too have a weapon, human and digital. So, show yourself before I have to hurt you!"   


If in fact anyone or anything was indeed there, they didn't show themselves. "Ken-chan, let me go in first, and then you can go," Wormmon said bravely.   


"Be careful, my friend." Wormmon nodded at this and propelled himself through the oak door on his small violet legs, ready for action. What greeted him was not a digimon, evil or otherwise, it was a holographic image of Hikari holding a card, looking pretty sheepish, that came out of his now open D-terminal. The card read, translated from katakana, 'Open Me!'   


"Ken-chan, it's safe. But since I don't have fingers, I think you should open this."   


"Open what, Wormmon?" Then he saw the hologram. "Oh, I didn't know we could send digital images or holograms over our D-terminals." Ken sat down cross-legged on the bottom bunk of his bed and pressed the 'enter' button on the keypad.   


A shaky image of the girl started whispering. She set down the white card as she said, "Ohayo minna, eh, there's a problem. A big problem involving Yamato, Sora and ani. This is going to take a while, so get dressed and go to Digiworld as soon as you finish this message." Tailmon jumped into view and whispered something in Hikari's ear. "Oh, and Tailmon says to bring some snacks for yourself and your digimon partner; we might go into the morning, so leave a note for your parents. Eh, okay, I think that's-"   


"No wait!" Tailmon yelled, jumping into view again. Her mouth was covered by Hikari's hand immediately and she sweatdropped.   


"Could you be a little quieter?"   


"Oh, sorry." Tailmon hung her head for a second and then bounded back with energy. "Listen, this could be a shock to some of you, especially Takeru and Hikari, because I haven't even told her yet. Close friends of the three should bring catnip or whatever you humans use for comfort."   


"Miyako will be bringing some chocolate then," Ken said with a sad smile.   


"Now, you each have personal messages to attend to. If you're Mimi, press one."   


Hikari in turn whispered, "If you're Miyako, press two."   


"Koushiro should press three." It seemed like Tailmon and Hikari were trading places, as if this were some sort of Hollywood-hyped American game show. The concept made Ken smile once more, even though it seemed as if the situation was dire.   


"Takeru-kun, you're number's four."   


"Ken, you're five, well not really but-"   


"Iori's num-"   


Ken pressed number five on the keyboard and prepared to be given his message. "Hello Ken," Tailmon started, "if you are not Ken, we'll figure it out sooner or later and you'll have my cat's eye hypnotism to answer to!" She paused for a few seconds before continuing. "All right, but your punishment will be severe if you're still here and not the Former Kaiser. Ken, this doesn't have anything to do with you, but since we're going to Digiworld, you might want to stay on guard for any evil digimon that come across our way. You've been the scratching post for a lot of henchmen, but you know we haven't found their top cat yet, so keep your ears open and your eyes dilated! Wormmon, because I know you're right there beside 'im, eat something before you come. We may need Paildramon. Hurry Ken, we need your help!"   


With that, the hologram reset itself and it was back to Hikari holding her sign. Ken dug deep under his bed and pulled out a bag of chocolate chip cookies. "Here, eat these while I get dressed, Wormmon, it'll bring up your strength."   


As Ken disappeared into his closet, throwing out pajama bottoms, Wormmon took a bite...and couldn't stop. "Mmm, who made these, Ken-chan?"   


The Ichijouji boy emerged wearing khaki pants and his old favorite sweater over an olive-green collared shirt. "Sora-san made them, she gave us all a bag last Christmas."   
  


Wormmon looked as if he was about to be sick. It was a funny sight, because although he was already a lovely shade of emerald, his cheeks, or where a human's cheeks would be, were a dark forest-green. "These are over three weeks old?"   


"They're still good aren't they? Take the bag, my friend," and at that he pulled out another bag of food, containing a water bottle, pocketed his D-3, grabbed the caterpillar and held his dark digivice up to his computer screen, which, like magic, turned on. "Digiport, open!"   


~*~

  


Miyako stifled a yawn and then a laugh as she saw Hikari's face at Tailmon's outburst. She then frowned at the seriousness in the cat's voice as she suggested that they should bring a comforting item. "Aii, I could never bring Mr. Snuffles," she thought aloud, eyeing the battered old stuffed animal on her bedside, "I'd never live it down."   


"Why don't you bring some chocolate? That always cheers you up," suggested Poromon. He turned his little pink head when he saw Miyako start to take off her pink nightshirt however.   


"Arigatou, Poromon. What does it say next?"   


"It says for you to push number two, but I don't know which number is two."   


"Here," she said, pulling a light blue shirt down. It was a little tight and short now that she had grown a few inches in height…and around her chest. She pushed the correct button and was greeted by Hikari, dressed in a light green tank top with a cardigan pullover the same color.   


"If anyone besides Miyako's watching this," her voice said, "you'll have to answer to Tailmon, and she'll make you regret it." After pausing for about ten seconds, Hikari started again, "Miyako, I know you really never got to know Yamato, Sora or Taichi, but, you might want to bring some chocolate. Tailmon told me that it was serious. Oh, and feed Poromon before you come because, even though our problem really has nothing to do with Digiworld, we might need Silphymon to come and help out if any more digimon decide to attack Ken. Haiyaku, ja mata!"   


The hologram went back to the Yagami girl holding the sign and Miyako pressed the exit button. Throwing an off-white sweater over her head and styling her purplish hair back in a light blue handkerchief, Miyako grabbed a chocolate bar out of her secret stash, and then, after thinking about it, she took the entire thing. Tossing one to Poromon while she headed into the kitchen to fill her picnic basket full of food she said, "Here, eat this. Chocolate always filled you up."   


Poromon greedily took the foil wrapping off of the chocolate and dug into the warm sweet goodness. Chocolate had something in it that gave all the digimon a tremendous boost of energy. Koushiro said that it could and very well be the sugar in it, which digimon store instead of burn off like humans. Daisuke often got into what Miyako called 'sugar-highs', which involved him having loads of energy for about a half hour before he drooped into a tremendous low.   


Digimon obviously converted the fast-burning sugar high into a slow burning but all the powerful digital high. Any sugar, whether in fruit or in candy, the digimon could convert. Poromon, by now, had figured out that the best way to enjoy the energy-ridden morsel was to eat it slowly, or he could only taste the after taste of the chocolate, which to him was disgusting.   


The Inoue returned with the basket bulging, and opened her laptop. "Okay Poromon, let's go! Digiport-"   


Poromon blushed and said, "Aren't you forgetting something, Miyako?"   


The Guardian of Sincerity and Love looked down to see that she was about to go only half-dressed, with her pink pajama bottoms still on. "Aii, I forgot..."   
  


~*~

  
  


Already dressed and ready to go, Takaishi Takeru pressed the number four key on his D-terminal and waited for the message.   
  


"Ohayo, Takeru-kun. Tailmon tells me that what happened to ani is pretty bad, which means the same happened to Yamato-san. I'm sure that whatever happened, he'll be fine. We shouldn't worry Take-kun, be strong and…well, and hope for the best!" At this the brunette blushed sheepishly and smiled saying, "O-daijini, Takeru-kun."   


Takeru paused the hologram right there and looked at his best friend. Even though her face displayed a mask of cheerfulness and smiles, he could see in her eyes that she was incredibly worried about her brother, as he was too. Yamato and Takeru shared a bond that no normal siblings had, they rarely ever fought, insulted or hurt the other, yet, the boys could tease each other relentlessly. Taichi and his imouto were close, he knew, but they could never compare to the strange relationship that he and the rock star had.   


Taichi and Takeru had a deep friendship too, although it was not that strange. When Takeru was much littler, he had been convinced that Yamato had abandoned him, a thing that he should have known Yamato would never do. The little Takaishi had begged Taichi to be his older brother, and until they found Yamato sometime later, he had been. Taichi wasn't a bad 'nii-chan as Takeru got around to calling him, and it wasn't really a big surprise when Takeru had found out he was such a good brother from experience. From then on, Takeru and Hikari were more like brother and sister than friend and friend.   


And from spending a long time with Sora in the digital world, she was more like a mother to him. She was the mother to all of them, but especially to Takeru. Hikari was stronger than he was when she was younger, but they were more equally matched now. Even so, the Takenouchi comforted and spoiled the little boy like a true mother would. Once, when he had a bad dream about never seeing Yamato again during one of the times he had left, he had woken up crying. She took him in her arms and rocked him to sleep. Before he dozed off, he had called her okaa-san. A fitting name for the caring, tough young woman that she was now.   


If any Dark Master or evil being hurt Yamato, Taichi or Sora in any way, shape or form, they would have to answer to him. Pressing the 'enter' button again, the image flickered back to its beginning form and he closed it up. "Patamon, you ready?"   


The flying digimon (who resembled a fat pig) set down Takeru's backpack, now filled with food and responded, keeping his voice quiet, "Ready when you are, Takeru!"   


"All right!" The pair made their way to his mother's computer in the dining room. They matched somewhat, what with Takeru wearing one of Yamato's old orange shirts underneath a dark blue sweater and khaki pants. His favorite white hat was on Patamon's head as he held up his greenish digivice saying, "Digiport, open!"   
  


~*~

  
  


"So, I was like, 'That is soooooo grody, Ashley, I can't believe you actually kissed him!' I mean, why'd she give up that perfectly hot Sam for, ugh, him?!"   


Normally, that was what someone would hear out of Tachikawa Mimi's mouth on any given day, give or take a few names and situations; but lately her friends have been worried about the usually gossiping pink-haired friend of theirs. It wasn't as if she had stopped gossiping, no, that was her life, but the way she said everything was so, different… Nowadays, her friends were hearing this:   


"So, I said, 'How could you possibly think of doing something that atrocious Ashley? Engaging in romantics with that fiend?' In my opinion, it was a horrible mistake she made when she moved on to him instead of keeping a solid and happy relationship up with Samuel."   


Fortunately for Mimi, for she was about to get another 'Are you feeling all right?' from her friends, a beeping noise came from somewhere inside of her one-strapped backpack. Digging in the sack, she found that her three-way, cell phone-day planner-internet connection had a hologram of Hikari sticking up with a word written in katakana.   


"Whoa, Meems, where'd you get that tight tech?"   


"From no place in particular," she said trying to hide it, "um, Michael, could you assist me with something?" Michael, her newfound friend and fellow digidestined, caught on quickly and followed Mimi to a table across the library where the group of friends had been studying.   


"What's up?"   


"It seems that my chums in Japan have a distinct problem," the Tachikawa whispered as she turned the volume low on her little black piece of machinery, "or they wouldn't have messaged me so early over there."   


Mimi pressed the 'enter' button on the small keypad and the 3-D picture of Hikari started talking in Japanese. "I didn't know you could send holograms now over the Internet!"   


"Neither did I."   


"I'm glad that when you're in Digiworld, all languages are neutralized into digi-code so I don't have to learn Japanese to understand everyone. Unfortunately, I only know the few cuss words and titles you've taught me, and your computer doesn't translate for me. What's she saying?" The blonde boy eyed his pink-loving friend suspiciously as her face paled. Paling even more, she pressed the number one button and was greeted by a fat white cat wearing gloves. Fortunately for Michael, the cat spoke in digi-code, allowing him to understand it because just like in Digiworld, digi-code is heard in the listener's native tongue. Michael assumed Mimi was hearing Japanese.   


"If you're not Tachikawa Mimi and you're reading this, you've just become my new play toy," Tailmon said extending her claws. "Mimi, listen, something horrible has happened to Yamato, Taichi and Sora. You have to come to Digiworld right away, and no exceptions! You and only you, or I'll do something drastic. I know that Michael is a digidestined like you and Hikari, and I know he's right there next to you too, but he can't come. Sorry blondie. When you come, alone, seal the gate behind you using Koushirou's program. We can't take any risks. Arrive here soon."   


The hologram froze for a second and then changed back into the image that had surprised her friends. "I'm coming with-"   


"No, Michael, and I've put my foot down! You are not going with me, sorry. I'd be betraying more than my friends, I'd be endangering you and I couldn't stand if anyone else got hurt that didn't have to. Besides, this is between my friends and me, and…I can't figure out another reason! Don't try opening the portal, there might be something horrible happening." Mimi walked out of the small room and to the nearest computer, Michael following her.   


"Here, I'll cover you, Mimi, and be careful all right?" He gave the girl the most sincere smile he could.   


Ever since she became the ambassador between the digidestined of America and the digidestined of Japan, life for Mimi got rough. Michael had discovered she was a digidestined when his digivice reacted as he sat next to her in trigonometry. Something else had reacted too, his heart. She was so pretty and caring, and beautiful, and especially sincere. Tachikawa Mimi was the one he stood up for when others didn't realize she was Japanese and made fun of what they thought was her first name, but really was her surname. He embraced her pink hair when her new friends teased the girl and he adored her newfound intelligence, even though others were still getting used to it.   


"Arigatou. Digiport, open!" A white light came from the computer. "Digiport seal in two nano…one nano," and at that she jumped in.   


"Good luck…Mimi…" Michael whispered.   
  


~*~

  
  


"Iori's number six!"   


"Daisuke's number seven," said a chubby white kitty.   


"Lucky number seven," Daisuke said punching the corresponding key with fervor. 'Perhaps Hikari will be the one to deliver my message to me!'   


Daisuke's wish unfortunately did not come true, for the same fat cat popped up on the screen and winked at the boy. "Now, I know no one would want to read your mail, Daisuke!"   


"Aii, Tailmon! Don't be so mean to Daisuke-kun! Gomen, Dai-kun!" came Hikari's voice from out of view.   


Tailmon rolled her blue eyes and turned back towards 'him'. "Anyways, I have a special favor to ask of you…well, actually it's Hikari's favor, but she's always thinking of these things. Daisuke, you seem to be closer to the former Kaiser than any of us, and she was wondering if you could be there for him, now. We all know he never got to know our missing friends and all, but she says that he'll be sad and she doesn't want you to be sad either, because you knew Taichi, and-"   


"Tailmon," came Hikari's voice again. Her hands wrapped around the white digimon and picked her up while the girl sat down. Tailmon ended up in Hikari's lap while she continued, "Daisuke-kun, I know that you're very good friends with Ken-kun, and I think that you'll be able to get through to him better than I or anyone else ever could. Please be there for him, Dai-kun. Arigatou. Bring some of your sister's yummy rice cakes when you come! Ja!"   


Daisuke closed the window ::as in computer window:: and turned onto his back to think about what Hikari had said. Sure, he knew that he was really Ichijouji Ken's first friend, but…did she mean that he was something more?   


"Daishuke? Daishuke?" came Chibimon's lisped voice, "Daishuke, shouldn't we shtart packing for going to Digiworld?"   


Coming out of his brief thought pattern, Daisuke responded, "Hai, Chibimon, we better start. But, before we do, I have something to do myself." The Guardian of both Friendship and Courage opened a desk drawer, drawing out an envelope, addressed to his sister Jun. Inside the sallow packet was a three page letter, which would inform the girl about the one thing he wished to keep secret, Digiworld. Yet, drastic times called for equally drastic measures, and it seemed as if he would be gone for quite some time. At least, if Jun knew about Digiworld, she could cover for him.   


The pair, with Chibimon resting on Daisuke's left shoulder and a small cloth bag around the other, carefully tiptoed towards the kitchen, where the Motomiya knew a fresh batch of Jun's chocolate-covered rice cakes would be sitting. He was especially silent when passing his teenage sister's room, but was surprised to hear faint sobbing coming from behind the door instead of snoring. Normally, Daisuke would just shake his head and continue on, but lately, he had been worried about her. Jun hadn't been the same since the night of Yamato's concert and even after the brunette had explained to his sister that Yamato and Sora were only good friends, she had been unusually sad, yet, not entirely moody.   


"Jun," Daisuke whispered. Along with the letter, his digivice, and an outfit he would change into in the bathroom, the boy was now holding Chibimon like a stuffed animal. "Daijoubu ka?"   


His only response was a light gasp, followed by a sniffle.   


Changing his voice to sound as concerned as he possibly could, Daisuke repeated, "Daijoubu?"   


"It's nothing you should worry yourself with, chibi otooto." Daisuke was almost shocked; he had never heard such hurt and despair in someone's voice before. Even her little insulting nickname didn't sound menacing or even slightly mean. No, he had only heard that tone once before…when Ken had uttered, "What have I done?" that day. Ken had done something atrociously horrible and evil, what could Jun have possibly done to equal such a feeling…or who could have done such a thing to Jun? "And, besides, otooto, by kami-sama what are you doing up so late?"   


An idea suddenly popped into Daisuke's mind. "I'll tell you if you tell me what happened. You've all ready given me a mouthful about your temporary job as my mannequin…. By any chance, does it have to do with Yamato?"   


"Iie. I realize something you don't, chibi otooto, even if Sora is only Yamato-kun's friend, he doesn't feel the same way about her; he feels something much, much deeper than friendship. Kami-sama! I was the fool at the time, besides, he's younger than me. It's nothing to do with Yamato-kun."   


"Then, who?"   


Jun sighed. "Remember the night I told okaa-san and otou-san that I was going out?"   


"Hai," the dark-eyed boy responded gravely. She and his parents had gotten into a huge, uncomfortably tense fight, which ended in Jun leaving the apartment with a slam, his okaa-san grounding his onee-chan and Daisuke as well as the dinner being ruined, both physically and spiritually.   


"I was going out on a date," she continued quietly, "with Kido Shuu."   


"Nani?" Daisuke hissed.   


"I was out on a date with Kido-"   


"Aii, I know that! A friend of mine has an older brother named Shuu, and his last name is Kido as well."   


"Ne?" Jun questioned him, sitting up in the darkness. Daisuke still hadn't seen her face, and with the aura of the room getting more depressing every second, he began to hope she wouldn't step into the faint ray of moonlight he was occupying anytime soon.   


"Hai. His name is Kido Jyou, and he's training to be a-"   


"A doctor," she whispered, finishing Daisuke's sentence, "Hai, Shuu is Jyou's brother. And just today, Shuu broke up with me."   


"Daijoubu. Would you like me to beat him up for you, onee-chan?"   


This brought a little giggle from Jun. "You couldn't beat him up if you tried. He's a surgeon who works with the militia, during battle. He's quite strong, and could probably beat you to a pulp with one punch."   


'Ah, but could he stand up to XV-mon?' Daisuke thought.   


He heard her blankets rustle a bit. "You know, I really felt something different from him, yet I'm not quite sure what it was…. For me, minutes flew when I was with Shuu, and, every time he would look at me, I could have just melted right there into his arms. The rush whenever he kissed me was just so…indescribable. Aii, but why am I telling my chibi otooto? It's not like you've ever felt anything like that."   


"Ne, Jun, you'd never know."   


'I wonder what that could mean,' Jun thought before saying, "Hmm? Why are you up so late?"   


Daisuke shifted Chibimon in his grasp. "I couldn't sleep, and I was hungry, so I was going to have some of your chocolate rice balls, do you mind if I take three or four?" It wasn't entirely a lie, yet not entirely the truth either.   


"As long as you leave one for me, I don't care."   


"Arigatou." Daisuke turned to leave, but then thought better of it. "Oh, and onee-chan?"   


"Hai?"   


He sighed before walking over to Jun and giving her a hug, still holding the many items in his hands. "I once fell in love with a girl who didn't return my sentiments. When I found out that she truly cared about another friend of mine, and he had just told me that he didn't feel the way that she did back, it was hard to tell her so. She came to me, hurt and devastated; and me, being the idiot I was, didn't tell her how I felt then, although she knew all along, but I comforted her and told her that one day she'd find the man she loved. I sincerely did not mean myself. Now, I feel that she has moved on without the two of us romantically, yet I will always consider her my first love. So, yes, I have felt the way you have before. Konbanwa."   


Daisuke left a very confused, yet strangely comforted, Jun sitting alone on her bed, wondering when her 'chibi otooto' had suddenly grown up.   
  


~*~

  
  


"Jii-san, could you excuse me for a moment?"   


Little Hida Iori bowed to his elder respectively after the old man's positive response, and once he thought he was out of earshot he let out a rather long yawn. It was part of his meditative training to learn how to stay alert and ready without much sleep, but Iori thought it a trifle much for him. The poor boy had not slept in two days, and was much in need of a good rest.   


Padding over to the source of the distraction, his beeping D-Terminal, Iori found the image of Hikari holding a little sign and pressed the 'enter' button. Iori hardly heard a word the girl said, yet when his name was called, he snapped back to attention and, thinking quickly, held down the 'backspace' key for a few seconds.   


"…number six."   


"I wonder why she would have to leave me a personal message," Iori yawned, complying.   


"Iori-kun, I know you're in training right now, but an urgent matter has come up involving the people I mentioned earlier, Yamato-san, Sora-san and ani. Perhaps, you could get your Jii-san to let you come with us to Digiworld, and be sure to bring Upamon with you. I'm sure that even if you have to tell him all about Digiworld and our adventures that he would let you go. This is of the utmost importance, Iori-kun." She held up the victory sign before departing with, "Ja ne!"   


Still half-asleep, the Hida child made his way back to his grandfather. Collapsing down upon his mat, Iori opened his mouth to ask the old man the question, but was stopped by his raised hand. "Go," Iori's elder said.   


"But…how…?"   


"Iori-kun, I have trained far longer and harder than you have, and my hearing has not diminished in my old age. I know for a fact that your older friends need you desperately, and strange as it might seem to you, I happen to know what Digiworld is; the explanation is long and complicated, and it also involves your father." At his remark, Iori's ears perked up considerably, but he was not rewarded with the explanation. Instead, the gray-haired Hida continued, "And when we both have the time to do so, we will each explain our stories involving this. But, now, you must go, and hurry, Iori-kun. Time is wasting with each idle moment."   


"Hai, Jii-san," Iori said, dragging himself to his feet and giving the most respectful bow he could in such weariness.   


The old man also added, after taking a sip from the ever-present prune juice container, "Get some sleep, Iori-kun, as well. I'm sure your friends will understand."   


"Arigatou, Jii-san." Iori scooped up the sleeping Upamon nearby along with his D-3 and headed off to his computer, nearly stumbling over a strewn kendo stick in his sleepy stupor.   
  


~*~

  
  


_"…In our earlier discussion of proteins, we indicated that the way a molecule folded upon itself in three dimensions was an important factor in determining the function of the protein. Nucleic acid molecules, which we will soon discuss, are also quite large and have a great deal of information in their size and shape. Biochemists have used various methods to determine the structure of these macromolecules…"_   


In the background of the tape, Jyou could hear the professor writing the word out in kanji symbols on the blackboard. He had his friend Matsumoto Takuya record his Biochemistry class because he had been sick that morning. By the afternoon, however, the Kido was much better and returned to his later classes, picking up the tape in the process.   


Tomorrow, they had a huge Biochemistry exam. It wasn't the mid-term, but only a test the professor had whipped up to make sure the students had been paying attention in class. Takuya insisted that Jyou could ace the test, even if it was written in English, but Jyou still refused to take chances and was up late at night, reviewing the lesson.   


_"One of the most important ways that biochemists can learn about the size and shape of macromolecules is based on one very simple principle. If you put some particles of sand in a glass of water, the particles will sink to the bottom. They are pulled to the bottom of the glass by the force of gravity. If the glass were taken to the moon, the particles would sink much more slowly. If we could increase the force of gravity on the sand particles, they would sink more quickly.   
_

"Biochemists use this principle to learn about macromolecules. They add some macromolecules to water that has been made syrupy by the addition of sugar. At normal gravity, the macromolecules sink very slowly-if they sink at all-in this syrupy water. But, if the force of gravity is increased, the macromolecules will sink more quickly.   


"A force equivalent to gravity can be produced by spinning the glass very, very fast. And spinning the glass even faster will increase the equivalent force. A machine that can spin such a solution at high velocities is called a centrifuge. As the force is increased in the centrifuge, the macromolecules are pulled to the bottom of the tube. Not all of the macromolecules sink at the same rate, however. A pebble sinks more quickly in a glass of water than a small grain of sand, ne? The rate at which each moves to the bottom of the glass can determine what kind of macromolecule it is.   


"Even more exciting about this, is that through a very difficult process using X rays, which I will explain, biochemists can determine where each and every atom of the macromolecule is located! Calculations are based on the manner in which a crystal of the macromolecule reflects a beam of several X rays. This has now been done for several proteins, most recently for two different proteins that have similar enzyme activities. The results indicate that these two proteins-the enzymes elastase and chymotrypsin- have similar shapes, which scientists had expected because of the substances' similar functions."   


Jyou paused the tape there to finish scribbling down some notes and to massage his tired eyes. Glancing at the clock on his wall, he noticed its time, 1:47 A.M. "Why do I have to have this headache?" he asked no one in particular.   


To his surprise, however, something answered him. He turned to the talking voice, and noticed that he hadn't stopped the tape; the side had finished by itself and was rewinding. Accidentally, he had pressed a key on the computer, which was right next to the tape player.   


"…Could you be a little quieter?"   


"Hmm? What's this?" Jyou thought aloud, turning to the two-dimensional picture on his computer screen. Hikari was there, holding a slender hand over her digimon's mouth, clad in a pink nightgown. In the background, a brown tabby cat paced the side of the bunk bed in her bedroom.   


"Oh, sorry." Tailmon hung her head for a second and then bounded back with energy. "Listen, this could be a shock to some of you, especially Takeru and Hikari, because I haven't even told her yet. Close friends of the three should bring catnip or whatever you humans use for comfort."   


'Comfort?' A pang of worry sprouted in Jyou's chest. 'What happened?'   


"Now, you each have personal messages to attend to. If you're Mimi, press one."   


Hikari in turn whispered, "If you're Miyako, press two."   


"Koushiro should press three." Tailmon held up three claws for the viewer to see.   


"Takeru, you're number's four."   


"Ken, you're five, well not really but-"   


Hikari held up the victory sign, saying, "Iori's number six."   


"Daisuke's number seven."   


"And Jyou, you should press number eight."   


The blue-haired teenager did as he was told; extremely worried that something horrible had happened to whoever 'the three' were. "Ohayo, Jyou-san. I know you were very good friends with Taichi and Yamato and Sora and I wouldn't want you to fret too much. Tailmon refuses to tell me what has happened, and has only disclosed to me that it involves this cat here," she remarked picking up the same brown tabby he had seen in the background. Hikari began to stroke the cat-which Jyou thought more to be a kitten-and continued saying, "who happens to be part of Miko's litter. I don't know what it could know, or what it has to do with Onii-chan and the others, but, whatever it is, I know you'll be there for all of us. We rely on you Jyou, for more than one thing. O-daijini."   


"What could Hikari-kun possibly mean by that?" Jyou thought aloud once more as he grabbed his coat, the notepad and a writing utensil. Fumbling around in the large left pocket of the knee-length covering he took out his digivice and held it up to the screen. Looking around once more to see if Shin or his father were up, the youngest Kido then said, "Digiport, open!" and disappeared in a flash of brilliant white light.   
  


~*~

  
  


"Koushirou," Tailmon began in a tone that frightened Koushirou. "While Hikari is off getting dressed, I can tell you a two-step procedure to do that will officially block any and every entrance to Digiworld, and also ensure yours and the others' safety while you take care of the problem at hand, but first get ready."   


The Izumi adolescent had all ready done that, right when Hikari and Tailmon had informed him of the dire-ness of the situation. Having an insight to that sort of tone of voice, he got dressed and was just slipping an arm into his green sweater when Tailmon continued. "First, place your hand on whatever device you are using to receive this message and say, 'Friendship's lair.'"   


Koushirou was puzzled, but did so. The feeling of a great gust of ice-cold wind surrounded his body, but before he could tear his hand away from the computer screen, he felt the all-too familiar sensation as his molecules were downloaded into gigabytes and transferred from mass into technology. It itched.   


When his jet-black eyes opened again, he was surprised to find himself, still human, inside Yamato's bedroom. He glanced around nervously, expecting to see a temperamental Yamato pop up out of no where, or his father opening the door to check on his blonde son, but Koushirou was only greeted by Yamato's old computer turning on. Walking over to the almost ancient electronic, the redhead almost giggled at the primitive start up applications. 'The only thing this is good for,' Koushirou thought as the primitive desktop opened up. 'is-'   


"-writing," he breathed. There in front of his face, all on the screen, were about fifty different documents, all of which Koushirou automatically assumed were some of his famous, written-out stories. Opening one of the documents, he started to read, and the first few sentences confirmed his theory.   


'_Kurai's breathing was hard and fast, his leg muscles were aching as he ran through the dark, evil forest. Many times as a child, Kurai was teased by his elders for his unusual name; they would say that his home would be in the forest one day, so he could be undisturbed by the people of the town. Kurai hated the dark, and now, he had no choice but to run deep into it. It was either dark, or death_'   
  


As the Izumi adolescent closed the window that the story's opening had created, he saw a small icon in the corner of the screen start to blink…it was his symbol of Knowledge! Curiosity overcame the boy, and he opened that too. Immediately a window popped up, taking the entirety of the monitor's space up, and in the center of it all, a familiar old face appeared.   


"Gennai?" Koushirou whispered. The face of the normally old man was young and vibrant once again, as the eight original Digidestined had seen that one day when the strange, all-knowing beings had possessed Hikari.   


The somber face greeted Koushirou with a nod and spoke, "Izumi Koushirou, Bearer of Knowledge, successor to the fourth of the original five, there are two important things you must do now. First, turn around, and search for eight pages of with writing on them. Once you find the eight pages, place your hand on the screen once more and say, 'Den of Knowledge.'" The image of Gennai froze, and a confused Izumi, to say the least, turned around and was greeted with the sight of five pages of writing, all scattered on the dark green comforter.   


This time it was Koushirou's turn to freeze. "Just seven? Where's the eighth?" Frantically, Koushirou collected the pages he did have and began tearing up Yamato's room, as quietly as possible, searching for the sixth page.   


Unnoticed by the redhead, however, Gennai's image started up again saying, "The eighth page has been taken along with your three friends to the other world. Its disappearance must remain confidential between the two of us, Koushirou. Now, you must go to complete your task."   


"This is getting worse by the second," Koushirou sighed as he placed his hand back onto Yamato's monitor's screen. "Den of Knowledge!"   


Immediately, our genius friend found himself back in his room; this time there was no strange feeling of hurricane winds around him. As bad as the situation was seeming to become, Koushirou told himself to just react now and analyze later, he would have to be Taichi for the group while the real boy was missing. Gennai's face appeared in hologram form in the D-3 he had recently fixed himself up with, the object with which he had received Tailmon's dire message. "Open your laptop computer, and do a file search for a program called, 'digitimeseal-all one word-dot exe'. You will be surprised to say the least, when you find you've never seen it before."   


"You've got that right…" Koushirou muttered, quite surprised indeed at finding that the file hadn't even been hidden, yet he had never seen it before. The redhead knew his computer forwards and back, and by heart. Every single file, folder or application was accounted for and even every virus installed or downloaded was found immediately taken care of. How could he have missed it?   


Gennai's voice dropped lower and took on a grave quality. "This program will return Digital Time back to its original passing-much, much slower than Earth time. Just like it was when you first entered it. A year could pass in Digiworld once you've opened the program and ran it, and you would be returned to the same day you left, only a few hours later. This program can be removed after we've solved the problem, but; there is another program you must run first. Open your 'Program' or 'Utility' folder and open the program called, 'digifreeze dot exe.'"   


Once again, a flabbergasted Koushirou found the second file quickly and opened it. Immediately, all sound and movement, down to small breeze flowing through his room, stopped, except for the image of Gennai on his monitor. "This has just frozen everything within a three kilometer radius of your apartment, except for any Digidestined or Digimon, for approximately seventeen minutes and twenty-six seconds. Now, you can open 'digitimeseal dot exe' and run it. It will take exactly seventeen minutes to load, and the extra seconds added on for you is to get into Digiworld as fast as you possibly can. The program will not seal the host computer until ten seconds have passed after the download is complete. This, theoretically, will give you six seconds to leave. Hurry Koushirou, and start the program. Good luck." The image disappeared.   


Urgently, Koushirou double-clicked on digitimeseal.exe and began the program. Wiping his brow, the boy opened his map of the world and watched, intrigued as each Digiport closed one by one. He would be ready as soon as the program would suspend the Digiport he was opening right then. The seventeen minutes, however brief, would give him time to gather a few things together before he left for what promised to be quite a long time...   
  
  


::fin::   
  
  
__________________________________________________   
::Japanese Terms You Might Not Know::   
::-chan=suffix of endearment or closeness::   
::Nani?=what?::   
::ani=informal way of referring to an older brother::   
::Ohayo= Good morning::   
::-san=suffix used after someone that's older than you or someone you don't know very well::   
::Arigatou=thank you::   
::Haiyaku=hurry::   
::ja mata=until later::   
::katakana=a Japanese writing system::   
::Gomen=sorry::   
::Konbanwa=Good night::   
::Jii-san =Grandfather::   
::Kurai=Dark::  
__________________________________________________   
::I promise you that there WILL be the start of the plot in the next chapter. Sorry for the longness and boringness of this one. I didn't mean for it to be so bad...gees...GOMEN!!::   
::I'm leaving for vacation on the 24th of July and I won't be back until August 14th. Where I'm going, most people haven't heard of a computer (which sucks) and I probably won't have access to one, but if I do, you probably still won't hear from me. I'll try to get the next chapter out before I leave but don't be surprised if you don't see it. I hate vacations...::   
::Well, that said, I wanted to just remind all of you money-sucking lawyers out there that I still don't and never will own Digimon. If you're that desperate to get some poor teenager's money, then try pock picking, eh? Get off my back!::   
::Have a great summer! School comes back faster than you think it does::   
  


  
  
  
::dragonfire:: 

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	5. ::arriving::

Yagami Hikari was certainly feeling anxious as she watched the opaque television screen for any sign of a friend. Her loyal digimon was pacing back and forth in front of a large gray boulder the girl was sitting on. Nervously, she massaged the back of her neck, and suddenly jumped up off of the rock, startling Tailmon. "I can't take it anymore! Where are they?!"

"Don't worry, Hikari, they'll be here soon. Just don't do that again."

The lithe girl sighed and quietly responded, "I just wish that someone would get here." As if Digiworld had heard her, the TV screen suddenly lit up with a bright flash and a small form came through the glass clutching an equally small item.

Tailmon cautiously approached the figure, whose identity was concealed by the increasingly uncomfortable darkness. After a few moments, Tailmon turned back to Hikari with a smile and whispered, "It's Iori, and he's asleep."

Smiling with relief and amusement, Hikari gently picked up the little boy with Armadimon following along, formerly asleep in the boy's arms, and walked back to her previous location, keeping the child in her grasp. Lately, Hikari had been wondering about how Sora could have felt about being the babysitter of the group those years ago, and now, the brunette figured, she was going to find out.

"Still thinking about your conversation with Sora?"

Hikari was surprised. "How did you know?"

"There is a strange bond between Digidestined and Digimon partner," Tailmon began, "and even I don't really understand it. I feel quite ancy to say the least right now. You really shouldn't be worried, Hikari, they will all come soon." From behind Hikari, a small sienna tabby cat shot out, following a red unsuspecting (and unidentifiable) digimon. The feline stopped when it saw the television, and headed over to the appliance to investigate. Tailmon turned around to watch Rusty sniff it a few times and then screech as four more figures fell through the screen.

"Ouch!" came a familiar, masculine voice. The remaining photons of light from the flash lit up the scene for a brief second, revealing a flustered Miyako on top on a blue-haired boy with somewhat long hair.

The light was gone, but the three beings could still hear quite well. "G-gomen Ken." Moments later, another light illuminated the small group as a rather tall young woman stepped out of the end gate, narrowly missing the Ichijouji boy's face.

"Ohayo Mimi, Miyako, Ken," Hikari gently shook Iori as she was whispering her greetings to each individual. Mimi nodded her hello and Miyako walked over to her little friend.

Whispering she said, "Iori-kun, time to wake up. We-" but was cut off by the sudden illumination of the television. This time, V-mon appeared, lugging what looked like a heavy bag behind him, and, moments later, was followed by Daisuke, who was carrying an even bigger bag.

Ken stood up to help the brunette (and to avoid being trod on). "Arigatou, Ken," came Daisuke's reply. V-mon set down the bag at Mimi's feet and collapsed with a sigh. The teenage girl picked up the blue digimon along with the bag.

"Oh, V-mon, this doesn't feel too heavy to me. What's inside?"

"Nineteen chocolate-covered rice balls," V-mon replied exhausted.

"Ch-chocolate covered rice balls?" Mimi squealed, beaming. "Daisuke-kun, you're my favorite digidestined!"

Daisuke set down the bag after insisting to Ken that he was fine. "Well," he responded to the ecstatic Tachikawa, "that's one good turnout at least. I just hope that ane won't be too mad when she finds out there's only one left. How is everyone?"

The Yagami girl was about to respond to Daisuke' question, but a flash of light and the appearance of another human-digimon pair interrupted her. There, standing in the fading light were Takeru and Patamon, both equally as worried and tense as she felt herself. No words needed to be exchanged; just the look of confidence that he sent to her accompanied by the gentle smile was all that was considered necessary.

Black trench coat and all, Jyou stepped out of the TV behind Takeru and digimon and also nodded to show the group he acknowledged them. Walking straight over to Mimi, he huddled her over to the side, to begin an urgent, whispered conversation. Hikari strained her ears to try to hear what they were saying, but another flash of light distracted her.

Koushirou entered Digiworld with a bit less grace than Takeru or Jyou. He came out of the screen quite violently, landing on his stomach and sliding a few feet as if he had dived headlong into whatever device he used to get there. On his back lay his trusty pineapple computer, as well as another bag, which Hikari naturally assumed to be some item of food…'Or several large items of food,' she deducted with a closer investigation.

"Now that you are all here," Tailmon continued mysteriously, "I think that it is time for my explanation…"

__________________________________________________

::Konnichiwa minna-san! ^_^ Great to be here!::

::All right, now we get to the part I promised you would come, Yamato, Taichi and Sora find themselves in whatever land they are in! And, I will tell you what is going on too! That's always nice, I believe.::

::Thank you to the new people who reviewed this time ([Valerie][1], [sl_toocoolish][2], [*Relena][3][*][3], [Rocke&Roll][4] (who writes the BEST fics you MUST READ THEM!!!), ^_^(), Chelsea, and …), and the people who reviewed again. I love hearing from you all! Reviews are so nice to get. I don't believe anyone who hasn't been an author can imagine the satisfaction of getting a good review, even if they only do get just one. An author is forever in debt to the person who liked their tale, and can only hope to keep satisfying them with another chapter, or another story. Truly, I thank you all.::

::FF.net hates me, and so do my Muses right now…It took me forever to write this (and to upload it too), and I've kind of come at a stand-still. It takes me forever to update my fics (gomen!) and I just got some new inspiration on a trilogy I've been thinking about writing for some time now. Don't worry, this story's not in limbo, and it's not on the back burner. It's just simmering for a little bit, not boiling. And plus, I still have to work on Rb's fic (gomen Rb-san!) but it's actually coming along::

::**To **…** and other Taiora advocates**: The trilogy I'm going to write isn't a Taiora, but another story I'm writing called **::wolf::** is. So, don't flame me and wait a little for that one to appear here! ^_^:: 

::Okay, enough of my mushy thank-yous, explanations and what-not and on with the fic!::

__________________________________________________

"Otou-san, just a little longer." As if the strangely colored air stream had heard and understood the response given to it, it swirled around its current victim even faster, giving the wind-chill factor a chance to freeze the human awake.

The boy shivered, grasping for the comforter that should have been around his body. Azure eyes shot open at the realization that neither the comforter, nor his soft feather pillow were anywhere near him. The starlight wind spiraled around the teenager once more before shooting off into the forest. 

A hand provided support to the male as he scrambled to his feet and the same hand tucked several strands of chin-length blonde hair behind his right ear. Ishida Yamato sped off as fast as he could through the fragrant trees; the forest reeked of their intense soothing smell. If the wind had not intrigued and frightened the boy so much as it had, he was sure that he would have just stopped to breathe in the intoxicating scent. Sure as he was that the forest had some sort of enchantment over the senses, what his sapphire eyes feasted upon next could have blown the sheer beauty of the forest away.

Slowing down to a stop, the Ishida boy marveled at the scene before him. He was standing at the edge of a rust-colored cliff, marbled with tans and yellows, gazing down at a landscape far more diverse and wonderful then he could ever have imagined. In the corner far to his right, the forest continued, coming to almost a dead stop where the bluest water he had ever seen ran sparkling right beside it. Deep cerulean orbs followed the running stream past storybook shacks like those seen in ancient times to a wide plain, freckled with vibrant oranges and reds, which the blonde assumed to be flowers. The plains stretched for a bit, until they faded into the continuing forest, which wrapped itself around a gargantuan mountain, at whose top rest a pearl white castle, with blue towers and turrets. Yamato could even, just barely, make out gold and emerald flags hanging from the traditional castle-like walls and flying freely in the breeze from the tower tops. From what looked like not even ten kilometers away, there was a great ocean, stretching as far as his eyes could see, with an equally beautiful shore to accompany it, with no signs of civilization nearby. 

He would have stayed to marvel at the sights a bit longer, had not the same wind decided to remind the blonde that he was following it. Same as before, the chill crept up the Ishida's spine and after mentally shaking himself out of the grand reverie, he pursued the strange breeze determinedly. 

Racing down the pathway that somehow Yamato hadn't noticed before, the wind wound itself around trees and bushes of different kinds, as if to show the direct path he should take. Yamato wasn't used to trusting things, especially strange and possibly magical winds that appeared out of nowhere, but, something spoke in the back of his mind, telling him that it was his best choice to do whatever the wind did, as it didn't seem to be harmed by its route.

'Then again, Yamato,' he thought to himself, 'it's wind, and it's not solid and nothing could probably hurt it. Maybe a fan, but…'

The wind suddenly slowed its descent into the valley, slowing the Japanese boy with it. He looked down the side of the pathway, noticing that he was going down the cliff in a spiral-like fashion. Wondering how he could have missed it as he was drinking in the vast and wonderful view from at the top of the cliff, he noticed that the wind was suddenly at the end of the pathway at the bottom, and was shooting into the forest. Yamato sighed and continued down the trail a little faster than before. Near the end of it, however, his feet gained speed, too much speed, and as the Ishida tried to slow down, his shoed toe caught on a projecting stone, causing him to lose his balance and travel the rest of the way down the mountain quite uncomfortably. 

"Ouch…" he muttered, as his body came to a stop by the aid of one of the fragrant trees. Rubbing his aching head, Yamato rose to his feet and searched around for a sign as to which direction the wind could have gone. Out of the corner of his eye, an almost translucent indigo glittered and the Ishida set out after it immediately, all thoughts of questioning and doubt pushed aside.

Once again the trees closed in on him, and the farther he went into the forest to follow that strange phenomenon, the bigger they seemed to grow. By the time Yamato saw the mist stop over a shadowed figure, the foliage could have outranked fifteen stacked Tokyo Towers…at least!

Turning his attention from the gargantuan greenery, his blue eyes scanned the collapsed object; he dared not walk any closer until the shadow could be identified. Squinting, he could make out a few curves in the right places, signaling that it was female, and possibly human. The bright light of the sun that had shone warmly on his face only minutes before was now blotted and patchy as it strained to seep through the foliage, giving only a few patches of light for Yamato's eyes to use. The female was wearing-or, as Yamato remembered, was-green as far as he could see. The vapor abruptly and inevitably vanished and a great high-pitched shriek came from above the boy to follow.

Spinning around, he caught the last of an enormous blue bird, and a single large feather fell to the forest floor. 'It was just a bird…' Yamato consoled himself, 'no reason at all to panic.' The blonde shifted his gaze back to the shadow. From the bird's absence came a new, bigger patch of sunlight, which illuminated the figure's face.

"Sora!" 

His outburst must have startled a few more birds, for the rustling of leaves and the flapping of wings died out whatever else the blonde had begun whispering to his friend. The Takenouchi was as limp as her fiery hair, which fell about her face and shoulders, and the iciness of her skin along with her blue-tinted lips genuinely scared the blonde. "Come on, Sora! Wake up!" he whispered urgently, but the words never took flight on the wind like the horrible birds.

From behind Yamato, another dark figure arose. It was a trembling, teenaged-sized being, with large dark brown spikes coming out from its head and heavy footsteps. Circling around its head was a blue haze, which just illuminated the deep warm chocolate orbs and green uniform.

"Where are we?" Taichi asked, rubbing the arms that hugged his body. The wind shot off to the south with the vanishing egg-layers. A sudden look of worry crossed his face as he saw Sora's limp body. "I've never seen anyone so cold. Of course, I'm pretty cold myself. Is she all right?"

"She's…still breathing." Swallowing, Taichi walked over to the pair; they knelt down on either side of the redhead, "I'm sure she'll be all right soon."

Wanting to get off of the subject, Taichi said, "A strange cold, blue wind lead me here. Did you-"

"Hai, and I got the bump on my head from it too."

Taichi's eyes couldn't help but wandering back to his best friend's figure. "We better try to warm her up, or wake her up, or both for that matter." He watched as Yamato gathered her into his arms and began to rub her back. Big brotherly concern twanged somewhere in the back of his mind, but he pushed it aside and got back to the current train of thought. "It was in our bedroom too."

"Nani?"

"It was after Hikari, and that's how I got here. I put my hand in it to wave it away, and the next thing I know, I'm surrounded by these huge trees, and freezing my-"

The phosphorescence shot back above the teens and spiraled down around Sora. It enclosed her face and slowly spread down her arms. Yamato, out of impulse, let go of her body, yet it didn't fall down to the ground, it stayed, hovering only a few centimeters above the ground. The Ishida knelt down to lay a hand on her; fear mirrored in his eyes, but Taichi stopped him. "Don't touch her!" he whispered fiercely, "It might freeze you like it did me."

Hopelessness seemed to be in the air, for all the pair could do was watch as the smoke entered her mouth, traveling down her throat. As it invaded her body, it brought her gently down, and her cheeks became flushed with color. When her hand made contact with the forest floor the haze wrapped around Yamato's fingers, also traveling throughout him. 

Taichi, however, was not going to be taken so easily. He took one great big breath in and held his nose with his fingers. Warm chocolate eyes crossed as they watched the fog float lazily up to him. Refusing to take a breath, though, was hard work. The vision around the edges of his eyes was starting to darken, small bright spots blinked in front of him. Slowly, his lungs started to burn, and the white lights turned red. The air forced its way into his cheeks, making them bulge, and when his mind started to fog he collapsed.

Fuzzy vision barely made out the air stream that floated to his face and into his nose and between his parted lips. Taichi closed them, fearing the worst; whatever would happen, he didn't want to see it…or die with his eyes open. The mist froze his nose and tongue, making them numb with the cold. The freeze traveled down inside his neck and when it got down to his chest, it vanished.

Tingly. That was the word Taichi could have used to describe it, tingly. He felt his lungs tingle, the inside of his throat tingle, his fingertips, earlobes, knees, ankles and arms all tingle with pleasure; even his eyes, closed as they were now, tingled. A peaceful feeling spread from his heart to his hands and feet, and a little sigh escaped his mouth. Unhurriedly, Taichi opened his eyes.

Someone's hand was down his throat.

"AIII!" Taichi bolted upright, and ran smack into Yamato, who obviously had experience the same thing. The bluish hand that had been in his gullet was gone and the brief flash of blue Taichi had seen before knocking Yamato down indicated that the beings other hand was in him. 

Yamato pushed Taichi off of him. "Get off, baka!" he barked, standing up to brush himself off. Taichi saw goosebumps up and down the Ishida's arms. Reaching a hand out to touch his own arm, Taichi felt a sudden chill and saw the bumps there too. 

He spun around to see Sora and saw a smile on her face and a third hand down her throat as well. A man's arm, bluish in tint, was attached to that hand and a small moan of pleasure sounded from the girl. The man twitched, and with a sick smirk, proceeded to move his second hand from her face downward.

With a battle cry enough to scare the remaining bright green bird from the tree, Taichi ran to the man to knock him down and braced himself for the impact his foot would make with the man's head. As he got there and gave his famous goal-scoring kick, his foot hit air and he went sprawling to the side, tumbling head over heels.

"You sick bastard!" Yamato screamed and tried the more direct approach of yanking Sora off of the ground by the hand. He shook her to try to wake her of the dream-like state and her eyes fluttered.

The hazy blue man stood up. He was taller than Yamato by a few inches and much more muscular. His hair was cut short and his hands were quite large, only he appeared now to have just two arms. Barefoot, and wearing nothing but a simple, almost Roman robe and a crown of white sparkling stones as see-through as he was, the man frowned and remarked, "Ruining all my fun, are you?"

At that moment, Sora's eyes chose to open fully and found themselves staring straight into Yamato's. After a beat of silence she flushed. Then, like a wave on the sand, whatever the man had been doing to her in her mind broke onto her consciousness. "Oh, God," she whispered and then buried her face in the Ishida's shoulder, sobbing.

"Oh little girl, you fear me so? How it hurts." He gave a sick grin to go along with the sarcastic puppy dog tone he had taken. "Come here, my _rukui_."

Sora's fingers dug into Yamato's back. "Protect me," she whispered, clearly frightened. Yamato's arms drew her in closer as he stared daggers at the scantily clad man.

The Yagami, fully awake and adrenaline pumping, raced in front of his friends, arms open wide, and demanded, as to where they were, who he was, why they were here, when they could leave, what exactly he did to them and what the hell "_rukui"_ meant. 

"Ah, the frank and callous attitude of the youth," he remarked with an air that snapped a few of Taichi's nerves. "You are in the _Kalani_ Forest, where exactly in it, I have no idea. I merely was sent here to bring you together and to give you _shanani_. _Kalani Dokoru_ told me that as long as I got you together, I could do whatever I wanted with whomever I wanted; and as she did not send _Chocolo_ and as I am not anything like he, I chose the girl." Here he stopped as to savor something. "Mmm, I have never quite had that experience with a human girl before…"

"You dirty-"

"Ah-ah-ah!" he interrupted Taichi, "I have not finished! I am _Stijid_, and you are now formally invited for an audience with the _Kalani Dokoru_, by whom you have been brought here, yet I gave you _shanani_. But, I'm afraid that until you have conversed with the _Dokoru_, you cannot leave." With that _Stijid_ backed up and vanished.

"Wait!" Taichi yelled.

_Stijid_ materialized again. "Yes?"

"You didn't answer my last question!"

"Ah, you can ask your delicious friend over there what it means. I gave her more _shanani_ then she needed, and a bit more than _shanani_ I must say…" he gave that wicked smiled again.

Yamato refrained from going over to that pervert and smacking the brains out of him and instead clutched Sora tighter. "Can you at least lead us to Kalina Doruko?"

His white eyes narrowed. "_Kalani_ _Dokoru_, and no, but I am allowed to give you some hints." And at that, he began chattering along in some foreign language for quite some time. It was mixed; Yamato understood some words, and others he did not. As he talked, Yamato realized that he was no longer speaking his native Japanese, but the same musical language that _Stijid_ was speaking. 

Shooting his gaze back to the blue man, he saw that with each word a miniscule part of him vanished. Now, he was more of like the beginnings of a jigsaw puzzle rather than the see-through being he was before. A bird soared above them casting its shadow over the group.

"And remember," the phosphorescence said as he completely vanished, "nothing is ever as it seems…"

::fin::

__________________________________________________

** **

**::itty bitty note::**

::*ahem*::

::None of those weird words like _Kalani_ are Japanese. I made them up myself; it's a language that's going to go along with the fic!::

::I am reaaaaaally disappointed in myself for that last chapter, it stinks. It's long and boring. Now, this one I'm proud of! I even added some Sorato in there because *drumroll* this IS going to be a Sorato!::

::And now, a friendly reminder that I don't own Digimon::

::I don't own Digimon::

::Ta-da! *sweatdrop* Well, feel free to review please! ^_^ Ja, minna!::

__________________________________________________

::dragonfire::

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